Arndale Centre

Arndale Centres were the first "American-style" malls to be built in the United Kingdom. In total twenty-three Arndales have been built in the UK, and three in Australia. The first opened in Jarrow in 1961, as a pedestrianised shopping area.

Shortly after the end of World War II Arnold Hagenbach, a baker with a talent for property investment, and Sam Chippendale, an estate agent from Otley, set up a company called the Arndale Property Trust, the name being a portmanteau of "Arnold" and "Chippendale".

The Trust purchased Bradford's Victorian Swan Arcade in 1954 with the intention of demolishing it and developing a new shopping centre, but it took eight years before leases expired and building work could commence, so in the meantime it developed a site in Jarrow, South Tyneside, which became the first Arndale Centre when it opened in 1961. Its trademark Viking statue, built by the Trust, was unveiled on 17 February 1962.

When the Wandsworth Arndale opened in 1971 it was the largest indoor shopping space in Europe.[1]

The Arndale Centres were largely successful, but they also attracted a great deal of criticism as they often involved demolishing old buildings – particularly Victorian buildings – and replacing them with modern concrete constructions in a brutalist style.

"There are people today amassing stupendous fortunes by systematically destroying our historic centres," wrote architectural writer James Lees-Milne, in 1964. "Eventually, all the buildings of the area – good, bad and indifferent – are replaced with chain stores, supermarkets and blocks of flats devoid of all distinction, and all looking alike."

The value of the Wandsworth Arndale was maximised by the high-rise tower blocks built on top of the mall, which helped it to become, according to some commentators, "one of London’s great architectural disasters".[1]

The phrase 'the Arndale Centre wasn't built in a day' (in place of 'Rome wasn't built in a day') was used in the film Little Voice.

A sketch in an episode of A Bit Of Fry And Laurie about greetings cards with specific tailored messages inside features a card with the greeting "Sorry to hear your teeth fell out in the Arndale Centre". Numerous other references to Arndale Centres exist in the show.

In an episode of BBC sitcom The Royle Family, Grandma is said to have a "spin-out" outside Timpson's Shoe Shop (now closed) in the Stretford Arndale or precinct as it is known locally.

British band Squeeze referenced the mall in the song "It's Not Cricket", from their 1979 album Cool for Cats, with the lyrics: "at the Arndale Centre, she's up against the wall."[6]

In the first Christmas special episode of The Worst Week of My Life, "the Worst Christmas of my Life", Howard refers to visiting Santa's Grotto at the Arndale Centre.